Euphorbia pulcherrima. 
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Eckaleezaxe2x80x99.
The new Poinsettia a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Encinitas, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Poinsettia cultivars having flower bracts with desirable colors, uniform plant habit and excellent post-production longevity.
The new Poinsettia is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of a unnamed proprietary induced mutation, not patented, that originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of the Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. cultivar Eckabish, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,200, to gamma radiation. The new Poinsettia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant within a population of plants of the irradiated selection on or about Dec. 31, 1998, in a controlled environment in Encinitas, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia by terminal cuttings taken at Encinitas, Calif., since January, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Eckaleezaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Eckaleezaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Inflorescences with rose red-colored flower bracts.
2. Dark green-colored leaves with red-colored petioles.
3. Uniform and mounded plant habit.
4. Early flowering, natural season flower maturity date is November 26 for plants grown in Encinitas, Calif.; response time, about 8.5 weeks.
5. Excellent post-production longevity.
Plants of the new Poinsettia are most similar to plants of the cultivar Eckabish. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Encinitas, Calif., plants of the new Poinsettia differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Eckabish in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Poinsettia had longer leaves than plants of the cultivar Eckabish.
2. Flower bract color of plants of the new Poinsettia was darker red than flower bract color of plants of the cultivar Eckabish.